Severe winter likely to delay spring planting

The unusually cold, snowy winter could well mean a late start on spring planting, according to a University of Illinois update released Thursday.

Minimum soil temperatures 4 inches deep range from the low 30s in northern Illinois to the mid-30s in southern Illinois, the report stated. Both soil and air temperatures remain well below normal for mid-March. Frost has only begun to disappear in the northern part of the state.

While such temperatures are unusual this time of year, U of I crop specialist Emerson Natziger said in the report that experience has shown farmers can recover quickly once the soil warms.

“If we’ve learned anything in recent years,” said Natziger, “it’s that what happens in the summer matters much more to the crop than what happens in March or April.”

The long-term forecast released this week by the National Weather Service at Lincoln is for below-normal temperatures through the end of March.